Children at a community health event in Timor Leste, one of the locations where Health Alliance International has maternal-child health programs. Photo credit: Jessica Dyer (MPH '15), George Povey Fellow.

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Implementation Science

A new field of study, implementation science works by addressing bottlenecks, testing interventions, and evaluating the real impact of programs to help inform global health practice. This approach focuses on on-the-ground personnel, making it particularly relevant to global health, a field that relies on the sustainability of health interventions in challenging environments. Learn more at the UW Implementation Science Resource Hub: impsciuw.org.

Implementation Science Overview

The Department of Global Health is a leader in implementation science and its Implementation Science Program involves a growing array of research and educational activities that span across the Department's centers, programs, and initiatives (notably the Center for AIDS Research Implementation Scientific Working group, Health Alliance International, International Training and Education Center for Health (I-TECH), and the Kenya Research and Training Center). Led by Bryan Weiner, PhD.

They’re part of sitting in class, trying to learn. They’re part of going to work, trying to provide. They’re part of living with soil-transmitted helminths (STH) — more commonly known as intestinal worms — inhabiting victims’ bellies, sapping their nutrients, and stunting their physical and cognitive development.

In countries where the disease is prevalent, soil-transmitted helminths have long been a public health problem and a human rights issue — and the UW School of Public Health is doing something about it. Researchers are playing a leading role in DeWorm3, a project coordinated by the Natural History Museum in London and funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. DeWorm3 is providing the platform for one of the largest implementation science projects in the field to date. Its core mission? To interrupt the transmission of intestinal worms.

Fundamentals of Implementation Science in Global Health is a one to two-week intensive course – with an optional second week of mentored protocol development – that provides course participants with an introduction to the emerging field of implementation research by outlining a framework of methods that are applied to improving implementation (including applied engineering, management tools, health systems, and policy research), and using experiential case studies from global health leaders. The course also addresses barriers to effective replication and scale-up in local settings. Applications are typically due in early Spring.

Do you want to apply mixed-methods approaches to optimizing public health delivery? Do you seek to apply high quality evaluation and assessment methods to your health interventions? Fundamentals of Implementation Science is a collaborative, interactive, online course that provides students with an introduction to the emerging field of implementation research through lectures from global health leaders and opportunities to apply lessons learned on topics of global health importance.